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Autumn Stargazing

Autumn Stargazing. The Autumn Sky. Still contains your circumpolar constellations: Ursa Major, Ursa Minor, Cepheus, Cassiopeia and Draco Summer constellations, such as Cygnus, Aquila and Lyra, are still visible. New constellations to look for include: Pegasus Perseus Auriga. Pegasus.

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Autumn Stargazing

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  1. Autumn Stargazing

  2. The Autumn Sky • Still contains your circumpolar constellations: Ursa Major, Ursa Minor, Cepheus, Cassiopeia and Draco • Summer constellations, such as Cygnus, Aquila and Lyra, are still visible. • New constellations to look for include: • Pegasus • Perseus • Auriga

  3. Pegasus • Pegasus is found toward the south. The body of the winged horse forms a huge square, the “Great Square of Pegasus.” • The horse is actually upside down. His neck is to the right. His legs are actually entangled with the constellation Andromeda’s hair. • You will use the Great Square and Cassiopeia to find the Andromeda galaxy…more on this later! • Just beyond the nose of Pegasus is M15, a globular cluster. • The first exoplanet ever discovered was around a star in Pegasus.

  4. M15 – Globular Cluster

  5. Perseus • To find Perseus, find Cassiopeia. Look at it until it is a “W” shape. Go from star #3 toward start #2 and straight on to Perseus. • The 2nd brightest star in Perseus is Algol. It is an eclipsing variable that changes 1.5 magnitude of brightness every 2.87 days. It’s Arabic name means “ghoul” or “ghost.” • Algol is sometimes depicted as the eye of Medusa.

  6. Comet Holmes was in Perseus in October, 2008

  7. Auriga: The Charioteer • To find Auriga, keep going from Cassiopeia through Perseus, toward the shape of a huge sideways house or pentagon. • There is a really bright star, Capella, on that side of the “house.” • Toward the bottom of the house are M38 and M36. They are galactic clusters (clusters of galaxies) that appear as misty patches. M37, another cluster (of stars this time) lies just outside, opposite Capella

  8. Andromeda Galaxy – M31 • Is 4th magnitude in brightness (in best circumstances you can see up to 5.5 magnitude). • To find it, again find Cassiopeia. The 2nd half of the “W” forms a “V” that points to Andromeda. • It is 2.8 million light years away…the farthest object visible to the naked eye. • Beneath the first “V” are six open star clusters.

  9. Meteor Showers • Orionids: October 20th (10 to 30 max/hour) • Leonids: November 16th (10 to 20 max/hour)

  10. Works Cited • "APOD: 2001 December 10 - Globular Cluster M15." Astronomy Picture of the Day. Web. 01 Oct. 2009. <http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap011210.html>. • "APOD: 2008 January 24 - Andromeda Island Universe." Astronomy Picture of the Day. Web. 01 Oct. 2009. <http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap080124.html>. • "APOD: 2008 October 24 - Amazing Comet Holmes." Astronomy Picture of the Day. Web. 01 Oct. 2009. <http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap081024.html>. • Brunier, Serge. The Great Atlas of the Stars. Willowdale, Ontario: Firefly Books, Ltd., 2001. Print. • Dickinson, Terence. Nightwatch: A Practical Guide to Viewing the Universe. 2rd ed. Buffalo, NY: Firefly Books, Ltd., 1998. Print. • "Google Image Result for http://stardate.org/images/constellations/auriga.gif." Google Images. Web. 01 Oct. 2009. <http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://stardate.org/images/constellations/...%3Den>. • "Google Image Result for http://www.myth-and-fantasy.com/pegasus/potherpages/const_peg.jpg." Google Images. Web. 01 Oct. 2009. <http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.myth-and-fantasy.com/pegasus/potherpages/const_peg.jpg&imgrefurl...Den>.

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